


A Perfectly Ordinary, Uneventful, Relaxing Day At The Zoo

by SaneCharlie



Category: Sentinels of the Multiverse (Card Game)
Genre: Comic Violence, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 17:46:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8294620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaneCharlie/pseuds/SaneCharlie
Summary: My first ever Sentinels fic, so I'm kicking off with something light and cheerful - just Haka taking schoolkids to the zoo. Enjoy!





	

The sun was bright and warm, the breeze was soft, and the children were quiet as their teacher ushered them into the zoo. ‘Quiet,’ of course, being relative – Aata reflected that he’d been in firefights that were quieter than this lot when they were enjoying themselves. But they were children, they had the right to be excited. Especially faced with the prospect of seeing tigers and lions and octopi and parrots and…

He gathered them together. “Alright kids, now remember. Your parents are all trusting you to be good today. Don’t wander off, don’t pester the animals, and don’t make any trouble, or they might not let us do this again. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Garbo?”

“Right you are, Mr. Wakarewarewa.” The two adults shared a brief smile over the heads of their small charges, before Aata said “Right! So first stop, penguins!” The kids cheered as he led them towards the first enclosure.

 

* * *

 

Behind his cloaking device and his mask, Ambuscade smiled. This was the perfect place for a hunter like him to track prey like the mighty Haka. Lots of distractions, lots of noise, and lots of potential hostages – not the kids, though, he’d have to be careful of them. That had been one of Spite’s big mistakes, and look where it got him. Arrested, escaped, arrested, escaped, killed, resurrected, killed again. Not a career trajectory anyone wanted to follow.

He checked his weapons, and prepared for the attack. First something quiet, to soften him up…

 

* * *

 

The kids loved all the penguins, especially the Little Penguins, which frolicked enthusiastically in their enclosure, hopping in and out of the water and bounding through the underbrush, and generally acting as though they hadn’t a care in the world. Little Anoushka, who was only new to the class and hadn’t made many friends yet, was jumping up and down and laughing, and a couple of the others were right alongside her.

Haka looked on, smiling. He wasn’t necessarily given to questioning his life a great deal – he’d had a long time to figure things out, after all, and he’d taken advantage of that – but if he ever did, it was nice to know he could look back on moments like this and know what he was fighting to protect. If he ever found himself feeling like he was only in it for the battles, that was something to come back to.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp sting, and he slapped his shoulder in irritation.

“Something wrong, Aata?” asked his fellow teacher.

“No…no, nothing. I think something bit me – a mosquito, perhaps.”

 

* * *

 

Ambuscade’s eye twitched. The pistol was custom-made, beautiful, powerful, silent, hardly any muzzle flash…and apparently, did about as much to Haka as an insect bite. He almost threw the damned thing away in irritation, but he controlled the impulse. He couldn’t do anything that might reveal him too soon. Even if the damned pistol thoroughly deserved it.

In any case, it wasn’t as though that was the only part of his plan, and if it had failed, that wasn’t _really_ a concern. Not _really_. Now he just had to wait for the big man to be a tiny bit more isolated.

 

* * *

 

The way to the tigers took them along a narrow, winding pathway, and the kids went running back and forth, impatient for the next stop on their tour. Mrs. Garbo led the group, not letting any of them pass her, and he brought up the rear. The last of the kids ran out of sight around the next corner, but he knew there wasn’t any reason for him to rush on, and there was nothing wrong with a moment of quiet amongst all the shouting. He didn’t _mind_ shouting, of course, he did a lot of it himself, but a change was pleasant.

That quiet was shattered completely by a loud bang, right behind him, a bright flash, and a rush of intense heat that ruffled his hair and disturbed the trees.

He blinked, turned, and saw nothing. There was nobody around who could help explain what had happened, or even any evidence that something _had_. But he knew what he’d felt – it hadn’t been much, but there was something strange going on.

He turned again and continued down the path, but he kept his eyes and ears wide open.

 

* * *

 

Ambuscade lowered the rocket launcher from his shoulder, barely suppressing a growl of rage. Right, that was _it_. He might shrug off bullets, he could somehow ignore explosions, but nobody could take a knife to the gut and just walk it off. He slunk closer to the big man, who chatted inanely with the other teacher.

 

* * *

 

“It’s rewarding, isn’t it? They have such a sense of wonder in everything.”

Mrs. Garbo grinned. “They do, at that. I always say they keep me young.”

“And it’s true! You don’t look a day over sixty!” That got a laugh, and Aata grinned. He liked Mrs. Garbo. She’d been a teacher for longer than he had, which was saying a lot, and she still seemed to enjoy it. And the kids loved her. As far as he was concerned, that was the most important thing. In his experience kids didn’t lie to themselves much, so if they thought you were a good sort then you probably were.

The aforesaid children were currently clustered around the gorilla enclosure, trying to spot the big animals as they slowly moved through the greenery. A couple of them were mimicking the apes, trying to walk on all fours, butting shoulders and laughing. Matteo and his friend Frida spotted the enormous silverback, and yelled to everyone else to look, and soon there was a crowd of awed children staring as the gorilla lumbered by, gave them a small sideways glance, and continued on its way.

It had been a tiring few hours, so Aata yawned, stretched his big arms out – and then frowned. He had felt something, and there’d been a sound too: something like the sound of a fist hitting an expensive armoured facemask and damaging it beyond repair.

“Is something wrong?” asked Mrs. Garbo, and he shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I just thought…never mind.”

 

* * *

 

Impossible.

Impossible!

The big man was cheating, that was what it was. He had somehow detected him, and instead of facing him head-on, like he should, like the _honourable warrior_ he was _supposed_ to be, he’d decided to play games! Well, Ambuscade was on to him and his tricks, and next time he wouldn’t be so lucky! Next time, Haka would never see him coming.

After he’d been hit, he’d stumbled a little way in a daze, and then stalked furiously away, lost in these angry thoughts. But now he was starting to cool down, and he was noticing something very strange. He was noticing himself…being noticed.

He raised his hand, and he could see it. _It wasn’t invisible_. That was bad. He absent-mindedly ran a hand through his hair – then he froze. If he could touch his hair…he ran his hand down, onto his face. His entirely visible, not-covered-by-a-mask face. That meant people could see it! They could see the hideous scar that marred his otherwise perfect beauty!

That thought was the final straw. Frustrated, humiliated, and utterly thwarted, Ambuscade ran shrieking into the distance.

 

* * *

 

Elsewhere, Aata was eating lunch with the class, and thoroughly enjoying it too. It really was turning out to be a very pleasant day.


End file.
